US judge declares California's assault weapons ban unconstitutional

By Nate Raymond

(Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday declared a California law banning assault weapons unconstitutional, saying the prohibition enacted in 1989 against semi-automatic weapons could not stand under a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that expanded gun rights.

San Diego-based U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez ruled in a challenge to the law brought by gun rights groups and others that it deprived law-abiding people of semiautomatic firearms like the AR-15 in violation of the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms."

Benitez issued an injunction blocking the law, but put that on hold for 10 days so the state could appeal. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, said in a statement that he would appeal, calling the judge's decision "dangerous and misguided."

"Weapons of war have no place on California's streets," Bonta said.

The conservative-majority Supreme Court last year struck down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home. In that decision, called New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v Bruen, the Supreme Court established a new legal test for firearms restrictions, saying they must be "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation" to pass muster.

Benitez in his decision wrote that there were "no founding era dead ringers or historical twins" for California's assault weapons ban, and that the state could point to no historical laws before it adopted its ban that restricted rifles as they advanced technologically.

California in 1989 became the first U.S. state to ban assault weapons, acting in the wake of a school shooting that killed five children.

The legal challenge was brought by several California residents who wanted to own firearms like the AR-15 as well as by gun rights groups including the Firearms Policy Coalition, the California Gun Rights Foundation and the Second Amendment Foundation.

Benitez, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush, said California's decision to ban assault weapons "creates the extreme policy that a handful of criminals can dictate the conduct and infringe on the freedom of law-abiding citizens."

The judge similarly declared the law unconstitutional in 2021. But the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year vacated his order and directed Benitez to review the matter further after the Supreme Court's ruling.

Benitez last month also declared California's ban on magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition unconstitutional for similar reasons. The 9th Circuit last week allowed the law to remain in effect while the state appeals.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston, Editing by Will Dunham and Alexia Garamfalvi)